Thunderstorms send Relay participants packing

As thunderstorms rolled into the area Friday night, the Relay For Life campers began moving out of Baldwin High School and back home.

Around 11:30 p.m., co-chair of Relay For Life Susan England called the team captains together for a meeting.

"We got news that we were in a severe thunderstorm warning," England said. "That's when I met with the team captains and we decided to pack up and go home, instead of packing up, moving into the gym, unpacking and then packing up in the morning."

Soon after the decision, the area in front of BHS was empty and the annual event was over, after only running for five hours.

"We were disappointed we had to shut down and leave, but we were more worried about what the weather might bring," England said.

Since Baker University students weren't involved this year, because of the timing of the event, the amount of money raised didn't meet the goal.

"The accountant left at 10:30 p.m and left with $17,500, but I don't know the total," England said. "I know we didn't make our goal, but I didn't think we would this year. It still turned out better than I thought it would."

Another major change this year was the location of the event. Since Baker's Liston Stadium was under construction, the event was held at BHS. England thought the new location worked very well this year.

"I thought the high school worked really well," England said. "We had a lot of nice comments from the survivors, who enjoyed eating inside. The Look Good Feel Better worked really well inside this year. The school worked well for us."

Only 12 teams showed up Friday night, nine of which were from Baldwin. Two teams were from Eudora and one was a Cub Scout troop from Overbrook.